Can you compare the two? AA!, whether you like the music or not, is the biggest band in that side of the scene. Much bigger than FTSK were at any point I would argue, and especially much bigger than FTSK six months ago when they opted to go that way.

If they grow their fan base with this record (which seems to be working) and play the, "support us! we're on our own now!" card, I think they'll be probably alright.

If they sold 19K copies again and did it completely on their own, that's a nice amount of money on top of all merch income, tour income, etc

There was a time when FTSK were as big, relatively, as AA. It's all a cycle of what's trendy - and there was a moment where FTSK were at the top of that cycle. But trends change.

I don't think it's worth it. Frankly, if they're going to sign with another label, it should be with Rise. They're Rise's number one priority (I would imagine) because of their size and financial earnings (I would also imagine). There's no way they'd make more money with a major or get more promotion with a major.

It also went pretty poorly for Escape The Fate from Epitaph. I'd look at that as an example towards why I wouldn't make that move

I'm assuming songs leftover from their last record. That came out like 5 minutes ago?

Nope. They wrote and recorded two records at the same time. This Means War was self-produced and was released last month, and was intended as a "heavy" record. This other one was produced by Feldman and is apparently more focused on Caleb's cleans, I'm guessing it's mostly stuff along the lines of Criminal and All Alone from the self titled's deluxe reissue.

Seeing as AA! has had two consecutive albums debut in the Top 40, and continue to sell out tours, I'd say they'd do just fine without a label. FTSK had some success with 'Woah!', followed that up with a complete pile of shit EP and lost their fanbase.